Can I start panning after orbiting without re-pressing the middle mouse button?
Sorry for necro-ing an old post. But it came up top in my google search of &quot;blender pan mid orbit&quot; so I thought I would share for others.
I come from Sketchup and is very used to not releasing the middle mouse button while switching between pan and orbit.
@Gerald's answer pointed me towards the right direction.

In rotate view, add a shortcut to switch to move on left shift
In pan view, add a shortcut to switch to rotate on release of left shift